KEVIN MENZ
Associate News Editor
 
     On Saturday, Aug. 28, the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market hosted the first ever Local Foods Day.

     The goal of Local Foods Day is to ensure that the city commits to food security, which is each citizen’s right to safe, diverse, nutritional and locally grown food. 

  Specifically, the day focuses on Saskatoon’s food charter as presented by the Saskatoon Food Coalition, an organization solely dedicated to the charter’s implementation.

     Rachel Engler-Stringer of the Food Coalition believes the food charter is instrumental for the city to establish food security.

     “The food charter is mostly policy regulations that encourage individuals and businesses to choose local food,” said Engler-Stringer. “It is a way to connect the rural and urban environments.”

     In order to stimulate food-secure policies within the city, the Food Coalition has been working closely with City Council to ensure that the food charter is followed in the best possible way.

     “The food charter, as a principle, came into effect in 2002 but it has not yet been fully implemented. The coalition’s goal is to keep City Council on track for the full implementation of the food charter,” said Engler-Stringer. “We asked City Council to declare this day, Aug. 28, Local Foods Day. Hopefully it becomes an annual event.”

     The charter’s five principles involve food security’s relation to production, justice, health, culture and globalization. This means the charter is vital to farmers’ markets, to connecting rural agriculture to urban centres, to establishing urban gardens and to making local food accessible throughout the community.

     Mayor Don Atchinson opened up about a few practices the city recently established regarding urban gardens, including donating fresh food to the food bank and establishing communal gardens on vacant lots.

     “On Third Avenue there is a community garden (dedicated to donating) tomatoes, potatoes, dill and all sorts of vegetables to the food bank,” said Atchinson.  “Also, (we have implemented) a policy for vacant lots of land. Lots that do not sell and are still vacant next summer will be opened for the public to use as community gardens.”

     He emphasized that this policy exemplified the food charter not only through the encouragement of local foods but also by bringing the community together.

     Engler-Stringer, also a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, says the food coalition also makes sure that the charter stays relevant.

     “Some cities in the United States have adopted policies limiting fast food locations within certain distances of schools. If our research shows that this is effective in preventing childhood obesity, we would consider adopting a similar policy,” she said.

     This is an interesting concept especially considering Saskatoon’s high restaurant per-capita ratio. In fact, certain areas of the city have little access to healthy food options. Instead, they are overrun by unhealthy restaurants.

     “Riversdale or Pleasant Hill have no access to full-service grocery stores,” Engler-Stringer pointed out.

     However, in Atchinson’s opening address for Local Foods Day, he was optimistic that with the development of Station 20 West, a proposed community centre with a full-service grocery store located near the Riversdale and Pleasant Hill areas, more citizens would have access to healthy and local foods.

     Increased access to grocery stores would help improve Saskatoon’s food security.

     Joanna Simpkins, who runs the Pick-a-Peck tent at the Farmer’s Market every Wednesday and Saturday, said she always looks for healthy local food in the grocery stores.

     “Local food will make the whole community healthier,” she said.

     Coincidentally, many customers at the Farmers’ Market believe local food tastes better, too.

While interviewing Simpkins, one customer yelled that it was “the best food in the city!”

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image: Flickr